Hic Domi Nunc Sum ("Home on the Range" in Latin)

One of the Very Best Songs for Children Learning Latin

[Editor’s note: A translation of this song appeared in Franz Schlosser’s generally wonderful Latine Cantemus (Bolchazy-Carducci, 1996), but it always struck me as one of the most unsatisfactory translations in the collection (“ut vivam qua hi,” it awkwardly begins). I did a fresh translation of it a few years ago, making the Latin text both simpler and closer to the original. It’s a short song but one of the very easiest to sing, and its verse and chorus can be repeated to make the song longer. It is one of the best songs to use with elementary school students.]

HOME ON THE RANGE (Kelley/Higley) (tr. Kuhner) [1870]

O domum da mi

ubi sunt bufali

ubi saliunt et cervulae

et non auditur

qui calumnietur

sempiterno serenoque Iove

Hic domi nunc sum,

ubi saliunt et cervulae

et non auditur

qui calumnietur

sempiterno serenoque Iove.